In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

This delivering to Satan meant the turning him back to Satan's kingdom, that the shock might lead him to repent. Our Lord adds, that the sentence of the Church shall be confirmed in heaven. Such is the godly discipline the loss of which we deplore every Ash-Wednesday, and which was lost to us because the Popes exercised it for political reasons.

From this, our Lord goes on to show that in meetings of the Church in His name He is present, both to guide their decisions and their prayers. It is in confidence in this promise that the Councils of the Church have met to consider of her faith and practice; and again, it is this promise that we daily plead in our prayer of St. Chrysostom.

LESSON LXV.

THE UNMERCIFUL FELLOW-SERVANT.

MATT. xviii. 21—35.

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

But foråsmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay

So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?

And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

COMMENT.-When Simon Peter heard the command to use so much forbearance with an offender, he asked how often he was required to forgive. The Law of Moses had laid down no rule, though David's noble heart had gone beyond the Law in his practice, at least towards Saul and Shimei. The son of Sirach had written (Ecclus xix. 13—17) :—

:

Admonish a friend, it may be he hath not done it and if he have done it, that he do it no more.

Admonish thy friend, it may be he hath not said it and if he have, that he speak it not again.

Admonish a friend for many times it is a slander, and believe not every

tale.

There is one that slippeth in his speech, but not from his heart; and who is he that hath not offended with his tongue?

Admonish thy neighbour before thou threaten him; and not being angry, give place to the law of the Most High.

And the rule of patience noted in the fourth offence was likewise to be found in the Talmud. 66 They pardon a man that sins against another; secondly, they pardon him; thirdly, they pardon him; fourthly, they do not pardon him."

So Peter, in offering to forgive seven times, thought he was going a long way beyond the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. But our Lord's reply conveyed that the forbearance and forgiveness of the children of His kingdom must be endless, and that he who counts the offences before revenging himself does not really pardon at all. And then He went on to a parable in illustration, showing how we stand in need of pardon too much ourselves to dare to withhold pardon from others.

The king in this parable calls to account those great governors of provinces, who, like Daniel's friends, collected tribute for their master. The ten thousand talents, if of gold, would amount

to 72,000,000l.; if of silver, to 6,750,000l. ; the four hundred pence were a hundred times a man's daily wages. The punishment of being sold to work out the debt was the regular ancient one, softened among the Jews by freedom at the year of release. It was the law according to which the widow's children would have been sold but for Elisha's miracle of the oil.

The vastness of the one debt, the smallness of the other, well show us how much more God has had to pardon us than we can ever have to pardon one another. "My sins are more in number than the hairs of my head," may well be our cry. "My wickednesses are gone over my head, and are like a sore burden, too heavy for me to bear;" and every sin towards our neighbour is against God likewise, as David, after his guilt towards Uriah, still cries to God, “Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." How then can creatures living only on sufferance, pardoned indeed in baptism, and still needing constant pardon, dare to be harsh with their brethren for paltry offences against themselves? The fellow-servants who told their lord are probably the angels, those guardian angels who always behold the face of their Father which is in heaven, and who stood indignant at the oppression of the poor, one-minded as they are with Him who is the 'Helper of the friendless." No sooner does He see us devoid of mercy to our fellows than He withdraws His forgiveness from us, for, as our Lord had already twice taught, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

66

Nay, in giving the Lord's Prayer, He had marked that forgiveness from God depends on our forgiveness of our brother, and no lesson was more reiterated by the Apostles than "forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Eph. iv. 32.) The early Christians learnt it perfectly, and forgiveness of their enemies was one of their most noted traits. Here we learn it too in the same perfect measure.

LESSON LXVI.

THE GOING TO THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

A.D. 27.—JOHN vii. 2—10; LUKE x. 38—42.

Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.

His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judæa, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.

For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him.

Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is alway ready.

The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.

Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.

When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.

But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

COMMENT.-The Feast of Tabernacles, at once a memorial of the dwelling in tents in the wilderness and a thanksgiving for the vintage, was coming on. It was the seventh month, the Sabbath of the months, and was one of the three times when all the men of Israel were bound to appear at the Sanctuary.

Among the kinsmen of our Lord were some who wanted Him to put Himself forward, so that His family might rise to distinction by His means ; and these, regardless of the danger, were discontented at the manner in which He had withdrawn Himself ever since the

Galileans had tried to make him a king, and insisted that if He were indeed a prophet who could do these great works, He ought to do so in public. So they would have had Him go to the feast as leader of the Galilean caravan, and challenge attention from the Sanhedrim by open demonstrations. Our Lord's answer seems to have meant that His time for the final conflict was not come. Their time for merely pleasing the world was always ready, and they could go without danger whenever they pleased, for they were merely of the world's own, and therefore it did not hate them, as it hated One who was constantly blaming it.

Still He did go, in His own time, not as they desired, with the whole company, but in secret, with only a small band of apostles, to keep the Feast at Jerusalem, without being put forward by these kinsmen.

It is not clear when the scene here following took place, but it is likely to have been during this visit to Jerusalem. Bethany, the home of Martha and Mary, was on Mount Olivet, a short walk from Jerusalem, and always seems to have been the place where our Lord was lodged during the feasts, and waited on with earnest love and reverence. The two sisters have always stood for the two kinds of character among Christians, those who love to work for Christ, and those who love to think of Him; one serving, the other sitting at His feet to hear Hin.. The lesson we should take is, that though it is well to work, it must not be such eager work as to make us hasty and fretful if we are hindered or interrupted. If so, we are "cumbered." Nor is it so good a part as that of prayer and meditation. Everyone has not the power of such contemplation. Those who have it must take care that they do not only dream. And the active and busy must never take on themselves to interfere with other people's devotions. If they call it idleness to be long at prayers, to be often at church, to sit thinking over the Bible, they are doing the very thing Christ forbade in Martha, and trying to hinder Mary from her good part.